It’s our last full day here; tomorrow it is time to leave to head back home. Addy & Loran took off early to go to Devil’s Tower and a drive-through animal park.

I stayed local and went on another hike in the city. This time I went hiking up near Dinosaur Park in the Skyline Wilderness. It was a perfect day for a walk – pleasant, sunny and mid-70s. I was surprised it was not busier but I am not complaining!

It was an easy hike but I did 2.13 miles on the trails. My app was, again, a good backup as it tracks my route and lets me know if I am off-course from my planned route. It also feeds the info into Apple Health and has downloadable map capabilities along a Watch app that has a compass and route info. It is a very useful tool to have.

It is pretty amazing that you can find this type of outdoor recreation in a city. It is a great resource to have and I would be out hiking constantly if I had something like this that was close.

I got back to the parking lot and took a few minutes to have a snack and more water. Snacks were just not cutting it, though…I needed food. I drove down the hill and saw a park that had some food trucks in it. There was barbecue, three different taco trucks, a truck that had meat things e fried chicken sandwiches, and another was Ecuadoran.

Hmmm…never had Ecuadoran food. That was what I decided on checking out first. I walked up and I saw some familiar things like plantains and beans & rice. But, they had an off-menu sandwich that caught the curiosity of my taste buds.

I had intended to look at all the taco trucks but they showed me a picture of this sandwich and described it and I had to have one. I put in my order then went looking at the taco trucks while waiting. One was a fairly generic burrito/taco menu with chicken, beef or pork. Another one caught my eye, as they had lingua (tongue) and tripa (stomach) tacos. Too late, as I had already ordered my Ecuadoran sandwich.

I went back and got said sandwich sandwich. Holy cow…

It was a somewhat-spicy sausage similar to a chorizo on a crispy, grilled bun with a good variety of toppings. They told me it could be spicy, but it wasn’t…until I put on this sauce from a little container of napalm. That lit it right up! I went back and told them how good it was, then had thoughts of tacos but decided against overeating. This sandwich was a good splurge and I was pleasantly satisfied. But I DO love those tacos!

After I ate I considered doing another hike in the same area I was just at (was my plan when I started out), but this could formation was right over where I had just been:

I decided I didn’t need a lightning strike after getting through a heart attack so I decided to not go back up. Good thing, as it got darker and the clouds became a little darker. A few sprinkles of rain sealed the deal.

I decided I would take a drive around town. You know you are a good traveler when you explore and get lost. I have a very uncanny sense of direction and can find my way around pretty easily…even f I had been someplace 20 years prior I can still remember where things are.

I ended up getting “lost” and had to GPS my way back to the hotel. I wanted to explore and look for some things to see and eat after they got back. I found some really interesting things and Rapid City has a decent selection of ethnic foods – Himalayan, Ecuadoran, Vietnamese, Thai, Chinese, Indian…a good variety of foods.

I went back to the hotel to kick back a bit while everyone else was still gone. It’s a 10+ hour drive tomorrow for us to get back so I want to rest up while I can. I usually don’t drive more than about six hours these days, but we need to get back in one day.

When they returned we went out for pizza at a regional Montana chain called MacKenzie River Pizza. This was my first time there and they make a mean pie. We just got a cheese for Addy, but it was really good. We got thin crust and it was a great texture.

I would go there again.

Since we are heading back to our respective residences tomorrow we needed to call it an early night. We are getting up at 5:30 and trying to leave within an hour. We both have long drives and he had about 90 minutes longer than my 10+ hour drive.

So, good night and see you tomorrow and pick up where we left off.

Shawn